Liqueur Producer of the Year, 2020: Mozart Distillerie

^ Mozart Distillerie is based in Salzburg, Austria, also the birthplace of famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

If you ever visit Salzburg in Austria, you’re frequently reminded that it’s the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, so it’s no surprise that an enterprising drinks company chose to name its liqueur business after the famed composer.

But for Mozart Distillerie, which was set up in Salzburg in the mid-1950s, the connection goes much deeper than that. The producer uses an innovative technique called “sound-milling” whereby its liqueurs are stored in stainless-steel tanks before bottling, during which time loudspeakers fixed to the tanks play Mozart’s music for a full 24 hours. There’s a scientific school of thought that liquids are able to store information in some way.

Whatever you make of that, there’s no denying the end result. Mozart took home a total of five medals in the 2020 IWSC, including a Silver for its Dark Chocolate Liqueur, which impressed with its nose of “freshly roasted coffee, cocoa beans, and bitter orange aromas”, along with a “rich and decadent palate with a nicely balanced sweetness”.



^ Mozart Distillerie's Dark Chocolate Liqueur impressed the IWSC judges

Its finest performance was its Chocolate Cream Liqueur, however, which won a Gold and scored an impressive 95/100pts. The judges described it as “super rich, very intense and very bold; melted chocolate creates a rich and indulgent impression, leaving a mouth-coating texture and elegant and rich praline finish”.

International Brand Manager Carina Planeta describes its Chocolate Cream Liqueur as Mozart’s “hero product across the globe”, and says there’s a direct correlation between the consumption of chocolate and cream liqueurs – the more often people consume one, the more likely they are to consume the other. “Cream liqueur is most frequently consumed for special occasions like birthdays, preferably at home, together with friends,” she says. “And for those who need no special occasion, they drink it as a sweet reward after a hard day.”

The Mozart range currently comprises milk, dark and white chocolate liqueurs, as well as strawberry and pumpkin-spice bottlings, and there’s another flavour due to be launched in the next few months, although Planeta can’t reveal too much just yet. She does admit that they’ve noticed a big trend for coffee-based products lately, but we’ll have to wait and see…

Cream liqueurs are generally regarded as after-dinner drinks, either served with, or as an alternative to desserts, but Planeta is keen to stress that there’s a range of chocolate cocktails – or “choctails” as she puts it – that we should be trying. These include hot-chocolate serves for winter, cocktails based around boozy milkshakes, interpretations of well-known desserts in the form of drinks, such as Black Forest Gateau, and classic cocktails given the chocolate treatment, such as the Old Fashioned and Espresso Martini.

This diversity encapsulates the world of liqueurs rather well. It is the most diverse drinks category, no question, with every ingredient imaginable making an appearance in a liqueur at some point. And the fact that some are made in vivid colours, making them highly suited to Instagram, hasn’t doesn’t them any harm, either…

Shortlist:

• Bimmerle Private Distillery
• Hombo Shuzo
• Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits
• Mozart Distillerie